something red stuck to eric's tennis shoe. >> i noticed in the flap of the edge of this shoe this tuft of what to me appeared to be wool. that was it. we could find no other evidence. >> back at homicide, buffington showed the fibers to his superiors. >> the lieutenant made a big joke out of it and told the rest of the squad if i went over to the let's house and cleaned out the lint trap in his dryer, we could probably clear out all the cases in the city of atlanta. >> still, buffington sent the fibers to the state crime laboratory. a young forensic scientist larry peterson took a look. why was a fiber stuck in the crack of a shoe important? >> it was loosely there. people don't normally have tufts of carpet fibers loosely stuck